


A Way to Lie

by desreelee123



Category: Darker Than Black
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Cooking, F/M, Feels, Gen, Het, Light Angst, Musing, Romance, Slow Build, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-03
Updated: 2015-01-03
Packaged: 2018-03-05 03:42:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,075
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3104261
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/desreelee123/pseuds/desreelee123
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Misaki Kirihara thinks. Hei waits. Tokyo holds its breath.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Way to Lie

A Way To Lie

 

I

Misaki Kirihara had seen it all. Limbs exploding for no reason at all, people who can fly, people who can make your heart stop on a whim.

Contractors, they’re called. Human beings who were not human beings at all, rather a cheap copy of one. They were beings gifted with abilities that baffled many a scholar. They could kill without hesitation and even slaughter an entire race without blinking. Or so they were told.

In actuality, they were not the ones humankind should fear rather than humankind itself and the atrocities humankind was making them commit on a day-to-day basis.

The real monsters were not they, after all. It was those who consciously preyed on the weak or the ones who were only waiting to devour anyone who was foolish enough to fall into their traps alive.

Misaki Kirihara sometimes wondered if she just wasted her prime on a fruitless endeavor.

II

BK-201, or rather, Li Shengshun as he introduced himself to her baffled her.

Contractors were known to be logical machines, incapable of making a decision out of their feelings.

And yet, his decisions seemed to be based on the responsibility he felt he had toward his team. Betraying the world’s most powerful organization because of the love one felt toward one’s team didn’t sound very Contractor-like.

But what baffled her more was how he managed to stay under the radar of the said most powerful organization in the world, who also happened to be her indirect boss, a fact that she wasn’t very happy to discuss.

All she had left of him was a bright star embedded in the fake sky that she gazed at every night through a telescope, like a mere ant staring after an angel flying in the Heavens.

She didn’t know exactly what she was hoping to find. A spark maybe?  A shiver? Something that hinted at anything other than a still dot of light in the sky.

Something that will give her fruitless search for him meaning.

III

Misaki was reading _Little Women_ when someone knocked on her door.

“Coming!” she yelled as she dropped her book to the side and hurriedly put on her slippers, a little bit vexed at whoever it might be behind her door.

A beautiful exotic dark face that only belonged to one Contractor named April greeted her when she swung open the door. A little boy with pure blonde hair was holding her hand, emotionless as always.

“Hey Misaki!” she half-yelled, holding up a beer can.

“April,” she said, a little bit surprised at her visit.

“May I come in?” she gestured toward the inside of her apartment.

She blinked once before shaking her head, snapping herself out of her stupor. Briefly, she wondered where her manners had gone.

“Oh sure, sure,” she stepped aside to let them in. “So what is the meaning of this little visit?”

“Straight to the point, aren’t we Detective?” April chuckled. “You should take a bubble bath sometime, maybe it’ll help ease the knot you seem to have within your chest.”

Misaki sighed. Typical April.

“You forget Ms. April,” Misaki started, “whose house you’re in.”

April rolled her eyes. “Yes. Yes.”

She turned her eyes to her telescope, which was still focused on that star, and smirked.

“You’re still waiting for him are you?”

“What?”

“You’re still waiting for him…you know, to come back?” she asked. The expression of the boy beside her didn’t change.

“No, no, I’m just,” the Detective sputtered.

“No need to explain,” she stated with finality in her tone.

A momentary silence followed before Misaki decided that they were starting to overstay their welcome, “What did you come here for?”

The darker-skinned woman’s lips quirked a little. She released the boy’s hand and leant down to whisper something in his ear. The boy nodded and fished something out of his pocket and extended it to Misaki. It was a small folded piece of white stationery. The Detective took her time in unfurling the paper, movements carefully thought out and executed. The note didn’t contain anything but a single sentence, or rather, a question.

Do you love him?

She looked up at April in shock, unable to find the correct response to her question.

That seemed to be all the answer she needed as she smiled and said, “Be careful with what you decide to do from here on then. The wolves are always on the prowl.”

That was the last thing she said before she took the boy’s hand and turned to exit her apartment.

“Wait!” Misaki called out, dropping the note on the granite floor just as the door clicked shut. She raced toward the door and pulled it open.

April and July were nowhere to be found.

III

Misaki Kirihara went through the rest of her day in a restless stupor as she tried hard not to think about the ramifications of April’s statement the night before. She worked on cases regarding faceless Contractors whose names she didn’t even bother to know. The only Contractor whose name or identity she cared about was BK-201, though she would never admit it to herself.

Her coworkers fluttered about around her, making lives for themselves as she vegetated in her own world, waiting for something or _somebody_ that may not come at all.

She thumbed a case file about a male Contractor who had the same face as _he_ …but still not quite the same. There was the way his shoulders were hunched forward in an unsure manner or the way he just radiated an air of uncertainty that wasn’t quite becoming of a Contractor.

Bottom line, it wasn’t he.

The raven-haired woman sighed and closed the folder. She ran a hand over her tired face and closed her eyes for a moment, trying to imagine a world where there were no Contractors or Dolls or human beings who preyed on their own weaker counterparts. Just purity and sunshine and a certain black-haired man’s smiling face.

IV

It was the middle of the night when a knock on her door sounded. She groaned inwardly and ignored the rapping sound, hoping it will go away. When it didn’t, she stood up, eyes still heavy from sleep, put on her cardigan and cotton slippers bought from a local convenience store, and went down the stairs of her loft to open the door.

A certain raven-haired man dressed in black greeted her at the door, his tired face sporting a shy smile.

Misaki rubbed her eyes and squinted, thinking her eyes must be playing tricks on her. When the sight still didn’t go away, that’s when she finally dared to speak.

“LI-kun,” she half-whispered, voice still hoarse from sleep.

“Oh hey Kirihara-san,” he greeted with the same smile he always flashed her in their previous meetings, only this time there was something remotely forced about it.

Suddenly, she was all too aware of her possibly bad breath and the fact that she might’ve blown it on his face from their proximity. She always had bad morning breath. Drowsiness and vexation long forgotten, she fought the embarrassment clawing its way through her stomach. “I’m sorry to intrude at such an ungodly hour, but may I come in.”

“Oh,” for the second time now, Misaki wondered where her manners had gone, “of course Li-kun.”

She stepped aside to let him in her unlit apartment. The floor-to-ceiling windows let in the harsh glow of the city lights, bathing the first floor in an ethereal orange glow.

“Hey Kirihara-san,” he started, back turned away from her, “I was wondering if—never mind…”

“Wondering what Li-kun?” the Detective inquired, curiosity piqued.

“I—never mind,” he said then started heading back out the door. “This was a bad idea. Sorry for the intrusion.”

He was only about to turn her doorknob when Misaki shouted, loud enough that her voice echoed throughout her entire apartment, “Wait! You can stay here.”

That prompted him to turn around and look at her with an astonished look in his eyes. His façade forgotten, Misaki watched him as his eyes scrutinized her from head-to-toe. Now she can see what other people were talking about when they described him as “The Black Grim Reaper” with thinly concealed fright in their tones. His very gaze sent shivers up her spine, causing goosebumps to rise from her flesh.

“I-I,” she started again, “I mean it’s already dark out you know. I can make the couch for you if you want.”

Then there it was again. His oh-so-sweet façade that was named Li Shengshun.

“If it’s not any trouble I would love that,” he said, his face tilting upwards to form a smile as he ran a hand at the back of his head. “Though I can make the couch myself.”

“No, no let me,” Misaki said as she moved towards the sofa-bed, glad that she’d finally get to use the “bed” feature. After the bed was all set, she set off to her bedroom to get him some extra blankets. She immediately sensed his footsteps following hers up the staircase.

She whirled around and said, “Oh Li-kun, you don’t need to follow me. You could stay right there and I’ll get the blankets to you.”

“No, no Kirihara-san,” he protested, “I’ve been enough of a burden to you already.”

Misaki stopped for a second and looked at him earnestly.

“No Li-kun. As your host, I’ll get it.”

Those made him stop in his tracks, an unreadable expression making it way into his face, while Misaki made her way toward her bedroom and retrieved the blankets. She handed them to him and he mouthed a silent “thank you” before retreating downstairs.

Misaki took that as a signal to retreat back to her room herself and get resume her slumber.

Even though she knew she won’t be getting any more that night.

V

Misaki awoke the next day to the sound of something that smelt really really good cooking at her kitchen.

She put on her cardigan and cotton slippers and made her way downstairs. It felt weird for her, having a man inside her home, let alone cooking for her. She hadn’t had one since about six months ago.

It all felt so…terribly nostalgic.

He turned around once he felt her presence approaching the kitchen, a smile on his face. For a moment there, Misaki felt her heart skip a beat.

“Good morning Li-kun,” she greeted politely, taking a seat at the table.

“Good morning Kirihara-san,” he said in reply.

“You know, you really don’t have to do this for me,” she started.

“No, I want to Kirihara-san, as recompense.”

She chuckled.

“Okay then, are you a good cook?”

The man turned around and scratched the back of his head while maintaining the smile that did not hint at the existence of something more malevolent lurking underneath.

Misaki knew she should be afraid. Shouldn’t even allow this man ten feet from her home. She had seen what he could do, the damage he could cause with a single jolt of electricity.

But she had also seen the goodness he was capable of or the way he cared, or presumably cared, for his teammates and how he wasn’t like any other Contractor.

Breakfast was served and he allowed her the courtesy of taking the first bite out of his creations.

Misaki was sure he would’ve become a chef if all this craziness hadn’t happened because he was an excellent cook.

“Listen Kirihara-san,” he smiled as he watched her gobble up her breakfast. “Can I stay here for a couple more days or so…you know?”

Misaki looked up and paused. There was a moment of silence that followed before she finally said, “Sure. Why not?”

After all, she could get used to having someone who actually knew how to cook around.

* * *

Misaki rubbed her sore eyes as she leaned back in her chair, taking a much-needed break from filing her report. Most of the time, it was like this. Endless streams of paperwork and reports to finish and not enough time.

She sighed.

The things she put up with.

At least she had going home to look forward to.

Part of her still couldn’t believe how easily she had said yes to that Contractor a while ago.

But part of her, the part that she wouldn’t really admit to herself, knew that the butterflies fluttering around her stomach was something other than indigestion.

* * *

“The policewoman actually let you stay?” Mao asked, unable to mask the surprise in his voice.

“Yeah, she did,” Hei himself couldn’t believe it too.

Mao smirked but didn’t pursue the topic any further.

“So, where’s Yin now?”

“Somewhere safe,” the Contractor replied softly, careful to keep his face down in case anyone might be watching.

“The Syndicate is still unleashing its pitbulls,” Mao said as he licked his fur, “it’s best that you keep your head down and don’t attract much attention for the meantime while I check for countries that they don’t have or lack influence on.”

Hei nodded

“In the meantime, I suggest keeping yourself in your host’s good graces. You need it.”

With that, the black cat jumped off the brick wall it was perched upon and scampered off to Lord knew where. Hei stared after the cat. He found a new body and possibly someone gracious enough to hack into the Syndicate’s server.

Good for him.

* * *

Misaki was the first one to come home. The empty apartment somehow made her feel queasy as if she was always used to having someone around all the time. She sat down and picked up a book from her shelf and read it halfheartedly, a silent part of her anxiously waiting for _that_ knock.

An hour had passed before she finally decided that waiting for him to come back home was pointless and she should start cooking her dinner.

She was chopping up some carrots when a thought struck her.

Should she make dinner for two or just leave him to his own devices?

A part of her, the professional arrogant part, admonished her for even considering such things. He was here as a fugitive…a refugee, not to play House with her. Besides, he was the one crashing in…not she.

But for some reason, another part of her, the hopeful and idealistic part, told her that maybe, just maybe, there was a chance—

No. She was Misaki Kirihara.

She snapped herself out of her musings and resumed chopping her carrots.

* * *

Misaki was woken up by a crash.

The sound instantly propelled her to get up from bed instantly. She shrugged on her cardigan and pulled out her Glock. She tiptoed toward her door and opened it an inch before slipping out and coming down the staircase.

“Hold up!” she yelled at the figure clad in black before her. The man held up one free hand while keeping the other pressed against his side, which seemed to be oozing a thick liquid-like substance that was dripping onto her floor.

She looked up at the man’s face and saw it was not a burglar or a hired gun or anything of the sort but Li.

Li-kun.

“Oh!” the woman dropped her gun and went to her apartment door and closed it silently. She turned on the living room lights and saw that he was indeed bleeding, quite profusely at that.

As to what had been broken…well, she never liked that ashtray anyway.

“I’m sorry Li-kun, let me get the first aid kit upstairs,” she mumbled before hurriedly racing up the steps to her room. A few moments later, she was back at her living room holding a kit. Hei extended his hand to take it from her. He rose up his turtleneck and revealed a bloodied chiseled side. He opened the kit and took out a pair of tweezers and cleaned it with the cotton swabs and alcohol before attempting to take out the slug.

“Gah!” he exclaimed as his hands shook and his fingers lost control over the tweezers.

“Let me help you with that,” she felt herself say as she raced to his side and took the tweezers from his hands.

“Sorry,” he muttered as he braced himself on the couch.

Misaki busied herself with cleaning the tweezers of blood from the first attempt. She had seen loads of similar wounds before in the Academy and was no stranger to this one.

The policewoman then steadied her hands and proceeded to take the slug out of the wound. She felt him draw a breath as she pulled the slug out halfway. She would bet that he was gripping the cushions of her couch really tightly right now. Once she had succeeded in taking the bullet out, she got a couple of cotton swabs and proceeded to douse them with alcohol then cleaned his wound. She then grabbed gauze from the kit and wrapped his abdomen in gauze, fingers occasionally brushing against skin.

“There,” Misaki said as she finished wrapping the gauze, admiring her handiwork, “that should be fine.”

Hei looked at her and smiled. Not the phony Li Shengshun smile. It was a real one. An actual smile.

For a moment there, Misaki forgot that there was something convoluted about their current arrangement.

For a moment, she forgot that she was the law and he was a criminal.

VI

“What would you like for breakfast Kirihara-san?” was the first question Hei uttered to a relaxed Misaki as she stumbled into the kitchen on a Saturday morning.

“Anything you cook Li-kun,” she replied casually to his casual answer. They did not talk about what happened last night. She knew she should be nervous right now or maybe feeling a little bit jittery because she was harboring a fugitive but she’s not. She really wasn’t. She hadn’t even thought about checking her apartment for bugs.

“You know Kirihara-san...you know who I really am right,” he said, back turned away from her.

“Uh yeah,” she answered honestly.

An awkward atmosphere settled upon the room before he said, “Thank you Kirihara-san. I won’t forget this.”

That made her smile.

“No worries Li-kun. Really.”

That was ironic, considering the fact that she put herself in immense amounts of danger the moment she let him stay here.

“You’re not really just gonna stay here for a few more days are you?”

She heard a chuckle.

“Is that okay?”

Misaki smiled as she shrugged, “I really don’t mind.”

“I can see that.”

He put two omelets in two separate porcelain plates and placed one in front of her.

“Thank you.”

* * *

Misaki went to the park for a walk. The awkwardness blanketing the inside of her place was suffocating her.

She left Li with the remote to the TV and the whole house to himself, something that she hadn’t done with anyone before. A part of Misaki wondered, the part of her that she always blatantly ignored, what she planned to get out of this.

He wasn’t going to fall in love with her. He was too good for that. Too practiced. Too rational.

And yet…

There was this feeling. Just a feeling. But a feeling nonetheless.

Misaki stopped by an ice cream vendor and bought green-tea flavored ice cream. It was a sunny day today, perfect for cold dishes like this one. She savored each lick, feeling the sweetness of the dish stick to her tongue.

Small indulgences like these were becoming increasingly more like a luxury to Misaki nowadays.

Somehow, she ended up on the park where a blonde MI6’s agent’s corpse was found maybe a few days, or was it a few months, ago. Misaki couldn’t quite place it. Days and months and years were irrelevant when there was always chaos to solve around you.

Chaos was infinite and innumerable.

November 11 was his name…or alias. There was no such thing as names in espionage. Just a bundle of letters and words given to you so you could label yourself as a human being.

She sat on a bench and ate her ice cream.

The wind blew east.

VII

Hei shut the television and walked toward the window. He knew it wasn’t the safest thing to do but nowadays, he just couldn’t bring himself to care. He wasn’t bound to anyone or anything anymore so he didn’t really care if something swept him from his place right now and killed him. Cars and people moved around in an endless stream, unaware of the existence of curious beings that could care less about them. Cranes and tractors rebuilt broken infrastructure. Tokyo was holding its breath once more.

But then that policewoman would care. The one who had so graciously accepted him into her home despite all the dangers it implied.

Hei stepped away from the window and decided to cook something instead.

She would be hungry when she came back.

VIII

The smell of deep-fried chicken in sweet sauce assaulted Misaki’s senses when she came home. Li was in the kitchen wearing the old apron that she had bought years earlier but never bothered to use.

She headed to the dining table and watched as Li set the table for the two of them.

“Thank you for cooking lunch Li-kun,” she thanked cordially. There was a sudden pause in his movements, something that made Misaki’s policewoman senses activate.

“You can call me Hei if you want Kirihara-san,” he said as he turned his back away from her once more.

She let out a breath.

“Okay…Hei,” she said, a smile playing on the edge of her lips. That made the man smile, for a fraction of a second. She was starting to grow on him.

Hei took a seat in front of her and started to pile dishes into his plate. Misaki couldn’t help but marvel at his insatiable appetite. It had boggled her senses since the first time they had eaten together…officially.

His remuneration perhaps?

But she was sure she received no phone calls from Kanami any time today notifying her of BK-201-related activity.

She rid herself of these thoughts and looked at him.

Despite her best efforts, her detective side won over and the questions came surging forth at full force.

“Is that your remuneration?”

Hei looked at her with barely-concealed shock that lasted only for a fraction of a second. But Misaki, being Misaki, caught it anyway.

“You could trust me you know?” she added, her eyes softening slightly at her half-statement.

He looked away for a second, weighing his options before replying, truthfully, “No. It’s not.”

“Oh.”

 _Then what is?_ She wanted to ask as a follow-up question.

Hei beat her to it, “I don’t have a remuneration.”

That made the Detective look up at him in bewilderment. In her years serving in the Force, she had seen all manners of things already and was fully convinced that nothing could ever surprise her.

Absolutely nothing.

But she couldn’t deny to herself that it was indeed shock she was feeling raging through her system as she took in his answer.

Hei looked up at her one last time, trying to discern if she was going to ask more questions. By the look on her face, he ascertained that she was probably already too shocked to do so.

Hei went back to his food.

IX

Misaki couldn’t sleep.

The revelation of the evening still echoed through her mind, creating countless ripple effects in the process. There were so many things flooding her brain that the meditation that usually worked to cure her insomnia wasn’t working right now.

So she sat up, flicked on her lamp, and read the book she was trying to finish.

Maybe if she was lucky enough, her eyes would flutter from tiredness and she would fall into that blissful oblivion.

* * *

_They were young and happy. There were no such things as Contractors or Dolls or Moratoria._

_It was just innocence. Pure innocence._

_The boy with the raven hair clasped his younger sister’s hand. Her eyes glittered with mirth and mischief and the boy knew that there would be excitement in the hours to come._

* * *

“Any luck Mao?” Hei inquired as he hid his face in the shadow of his cap

The cat cracked one eye open and fixed him with a lazy stare.

“I haven’t found anything concrete yet but there are a few candidates.”

He licked his fur and curled his tail around himself. Sometimes Hei couldn’t help but wonder if life was only a show for him.

The sun shone brightly against the grass. The clearing he had selected as a meeting place was quite nice actually. Trees shaded them from general scrutiny and it wasn’t a place people would normally venture into. This could become their usual meeting place.

“So about that policewoman of yours,” Mao cracked one eye open again, this time mischief could be clearly discerned from it. “She’s quite the lady isn’t she?”

He didn’t answer.

Mao huffed. “You know it’s not nice to cheat on your girl while she’s away.”

Hei decided to ignore him and walked away.

The cat huffed once more and closed his eye.

* * *

Misaki sat uncomfortably across him. They were eating hotpot this time. Li had managed to dig out the pot she never knew she had and made use of the vegetables and beef that he had bought earlier today.

There were so many things she wanted to ask him. So many questions for the enigma that was BK-201.

Although to her he had always been Li-kun, the adorable Chinese guy who she had bumped into inadvertently, one of the two guys who had managed to make her heart race. Never was he the monster behind BK-201 to her. Never. 

But she just had to know.

She couldn’t leave one more question unanswered.

“Where did you get your abilities from?”

He glanced at her warily and was going to tell her a half-lie when she interrupted his thoughts, “You can trust me.”

Contractors did not place blind trust in people.

Surprise flashed through his features and he stared at the apparent desperation in her face.

_You can trust me._

“I don’t know,” he said honestly.

* * *

_It was a cloudy day in Tokyo as a dark-haired woman with striking eyes chased an unknown Japanese man through the alleys of some district. She didn’t know how long they had run until she had managed to corner him in a dead-end. It was only then she caught her breath._

_Much to her surprise and chagrin, the man’s eyes turned red and his entire body glowed a shade of dark blue._

_Then he levitated off the ground, leaving gravity in the dust._

* * *

Misaki woke up with a start. Pale light streamed in from her bedroom window, bathing her face in an ethereal glow. She grabbed her watch from the nightstand and looked at the time. 4:30 in the morning. Not quite day yet.

She collapsed back onto her pillow and tried to go back to sleep. When it was clear that wasn’t happening, she grabbed her cardigan and went to the living room where her houseguest was, surprisingly, standing by the window watching something or nothing at all.

She went to stand beside him.

“Couldn’t sleep too?” she bantered.

“Yeah,” he said in reply. They stood like that for a few silent moments, content in just staring out the window.

“I don’t quite sleep these days you know,” her housguest blurted out.

“Me too,” she admitted.

A few more moments of pregnant silence passed.

“Do you have someone special in your life?” she asked, regretting ever asking the question the next moment.

“Not really,” he answered.

Of course. There was really no room for anyone else in a Contractor’s world.

“Do you?”

Misaki looked at him for a second then looked back out the window. “No.”

He brushed his fingers against the back of her hand and she sucked in a breath. They looked at each other before he took her hand in his.

The Detective felt a blush creep up her face. She felt like she did in Senior High where the boy she liked asked her out, equally as nervous.

A smile, a genuine one, crept up on Hei’s lips as he stared back out the window.

The city lights flickered under the fake stars. Tokyo continued holding its breath. “You can call me Misaki if you want.”

X

The next few days were full of moments neither Hei nor Misaki knew how to describe but felt happy that they were experiencing them together anyway.

Both of them knew it wasn’t going to last but damn them if they weren’t going to try. This kind of thing was hard to come by in the endless whirlwind of half-slumbers that was their lives.

So when it came, both knew how to cherish it.

* * *

Misaki ate the greasy hamburger that was her lunch as she stared at the report she was finishing on her latest case. Saito and the rest of her team were chatting away as per usual, neglecting their duties.

“Hey you guys, get back to work!” she barked in her usual style.

“Yes boss!” they all said in unison as they went back to their own reports.

The Detective got her tumbler filled with water and washed down the grease of the hamburger from her throat.

Another day at work.

* * *

Hei walked through the streets aimlessly. It was still a few hours until he needed to get back to the apartment to cook their dinner. There were not much people in this part of town so Hei did not need to keep his guard up as rigidly as he usually did in crowded places.

A cool wind blew through his locks. The orange glow of the setting sun washed the city with a golden glow. Hei closed his eyes and let the warmth of the dying rays mixed with the coolness of the wind wash over him. He didn’t know how long this would last. He didn’t quite think of it though, all too aware that it would change nothing.

After the sunset had ceased, he opened his eyes and made his way back to the apartment.

* * *

They sat from each other and ate, or gobbled in Hei’s case, quietly exchanging glances from time to time.

There was no more need for words.

**Author's Note:**

> I gotta stop. Please comment if you have any suggestions as to how it could've gone better or if you just want to express your opinion about it. Thank you for reading!


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